The ability of nurse unit managers to manage conflict in the Nelson Mandela Bay public hospitals

Conflict exists in all health care settings across the world. In a profession such as nursing, where there is constant interaction among staff, conflict is a common and often unavoidable challenge. Conflict represents a state where two parties have differing views on issues considered important to each of them. There are various forms of conflict such as intrapersonal, interpersonal, inter-group and/or inter-organisational conflict. While not all conflict can be managed or requires the need to be managed, learning how to manage it, may reduce the chances of it recurring or producing negative consequences. The inappropriate management of conflict has been reported to contribute to decreased productivity, poor morale and financial loss in and for healthcare organisations. The goal of this study was to make recommendations regarding how to optimise conflict management by Nurse Unit Managers (NUMs). A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research study was conducted to explore and describe the ability of NUMs to manage conflict in the nursing units of the Nelson Mandela Bay public hospitals. NUMs working in the three (3) public hospitals of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were interviewed using unstructured individual interviews to collect meaningful data on how the NUMs would manage conflict based on a conflict scenario presented to them. Data was directly collected from the participants. The researcher developed a conflict scenario and the model answer in consultation with experts in both nursing management and human resource management. This was done to relate the responses and themes from the data collected with what literature suggest as the appropriate management of conflict. Tesch’s method of thematic synthesis was utilised to analyse this data. Recommendations were developed for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research. Data was collected from eleven NUMs with each of the participating hospitals represented in the interviews. Unstructured interviews were conducted. The unstructured interview consisted of one central question and probing questions. This was done for all the interviews until data saturation was reached. The data collected was then transcribed and coded yielding the themes and sub-themes for this study. The model answer was then used to gauge the responses of the participants in comparison to what literature suggests regarding effective conflict resolution and management. The three themes that emerged from the data were Nurse Unit Managers managed the conflict in an appropriate manner, Nurse Unit Managers avoided the conflict and Nurse Unit managers did not apply the accepted process to manage the conflict. Thereafter the ability of NUMs to manage conflict in a nursing unit was described based on the findings. The researcher ensured trustworthiness by using Guba and Lincoln’s criteria, namely credibility, dependability, conformability, transferability. The participants’ rights and dignity were protected and the integrity of the study safeguarded by complying with the following ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence, justice, privacy and confidentiality as well as authenticity. The limitations of the study were that only NUMs from the general hospitals in the public sector participated in the study and therefore the ability of NUMs in other types of hospitals and the private sector are not known. Other levels of nursing management were not included in the study. The findings in this study could be integrated into the orientation, training and preparation of nurse managers by health care organisations and educational institutions as well as Human Resource Management practices